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Veteran Nutten enjoying life with Rams while rookie Atogwe anxious to start
(CP) - Should Canadian O.J. Atogwe become frustrated with the patient approach the St. Louis Rams are taking with him, he need only look at the path teammate Tom Nutten has taken to the NFL team.
Nutten bounced between four teams in three different leagues and seriously considered quitting football before finally landing with the Rams in 1998. And save for a one-year retirement in 2003, the six-foot-five, 295-pound offensive lineman has been with the St. Louis club ever since, starting in two Super Bowl games and winning in '99.
And Nutten (pronounced Newton) says he owes it all to the CFL's Hamilton Tiger-Cats, who drafted Nutten first overall in 1995 and gave him the chance to play and prove he could be an effective player after he was released during training camp by the Denver Broncos.
"I was very close to hanging them (football cleats) up," Nutten said via conference call. "But I talked to Mike McCarthy (the Ticats former player-personnel director) and they wanted me there yesterday so I drove from Denver to Hamilton in about 22 hours straight.
"It (playing in Hamilton) made the game fun again, it helped my self confidence and gave me the confidence to keep pursuing other things and other dreams. I wouldn't be here had it not been for that."
After the '97 CFL season, Nutten signed with St. Louis and was allocated to Amsterdam of NFL Europe, playing with future Rams quarterback Kurt Warner. Nutten rejoined the Rams and started in two games before becoming a full-time starter in '99.
Nutten, who was born in the U.S. but grew up in Magog, Que., signed as a free agent with the Jets in 2003, but retired prior to the start of training camp. However, he resumed playing the next season, re-joining the Rams.
But it's knowing how close he was to walking away from football that makes Nutten, a married father of two young sons, appreciate what he has achieved and take each season as it comes.
"I would say that I can appreciate more than some other people because I've seen the downs and I've (experienced the) lows," he said. "Everything that has happened after the off-season in Denver has been gravy . . . we never expected to go to this level."
It's a level, though, that Atogwe, 23, a backup to starting free safety is still striving to reach.
"It's a difficult step," Atogwe said of making the jump from the NCAA to NFL. "It takes a while to adjust and get used to everything that's going on around you.
"But I feel the way they set up here they allow you to get acclimated and work you in smoothly so you have a good run at it."
Atogwe was the first Canadian taken in the 2005 NFL draft, going to St. Louis in the third round. The former Stanford Cardinal realized cracking the Rams starting lineup wouldn't be easy, but was confident heading into training camp he could make a serious run at being a starter.
Atogwe says he now understands that's easier said that done.
"It's very difficult to start in this league because you really got to be on point and know all your stuff," he said on the same conference call. "You've also got to earn the coach's trust so that he feels you know he feels calm and cool when you're out there on the field.
"I'm still working towards that."
At least Atogwe has been through this before. After redshirting as a true freshman, Atogwe figured the next year he'd play a lot but had trouble coping when he was used mostly on special teams.
"I'm just trying to handle it better than I did then and just be patient and know my time will come," Atogwe said. "It was rough (at Stanford) not being on the field when I thought I should be and I didn't really know how to deal with it back then.
"But I think I'm better served because of that situation I know just to be patient, continue to work hard and it will all take care of itself."
One lesson Atogwe, a biological science major at Stanford, has already learned is he can't rely on just raw talent to play in the NFL. Experience, field smarts and correct positioning are paramount to a defensive player's success.
"Your athletic skills are really nullified here because everybody is pretty much the same," Atogwe said. "You've really got to rely on your technique and the skills that are geared to your position."
But Atogwe says he's working on being a professional off the field, too, and resisting the many temptations that exist for a young athlete with money in his pockets and time on his hands.
"You just have to prioritize and know your first priority is to play football," he said. "It's your job, it's your lifestyle and gives you the ability to afford to live.
"Outside of that you have to be smart about what you do with your free time and make sure it's not doing anything to hinder your performance.
"I just make sure everything I do is beneficial to me playing football. If you want to play a long time in the league, you need to take care of business."
The Canadian Press, 2005
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